Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Research at risk: Better testing for tick-borne diseases
Cornell University Laura Goodman was close to finalizing a prototype of a new test that can detect any tick-borne disease. Unlike some current tests, it could provide results even before symptoms occur – and even for unknown diseases. That’s important, because ticks around the world can potentially transmit hundreds of disease agents, some of them […]
Jun 4, 2025
Measles is making a comeback: Can we stop it?
Harvard Health Seven things to know about the recent measles outbreaks. Has the recent news about measles outbreaks in the US surprised you? Didn’t it seem like we were done with measles? In the US, widespread vaccination halted the ongoing spread of measles more than 20 years ago, a major public health achievement. Before an effective vaccine […]
Jun 4, 2025
Measles Is Now Showing Up in Wastewater
Time Magazine Measles cases in the U.S. have been rare in recent decades, thanks to a strong childhood vaccination program. But a few cases inevitably pop up each year as travelers bring the virus in from other countries and infect unvaccinated people, primarily children. Those cases are no longer blips. Now that the measles vaccination rate […]
Jun 4, 2025
People who want COVID vaccines worry about access
NPR Some healthy pregnant women, parents of healthy kids and younger healthy adults are worried they won’t be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because of the recent changes in access by the federal government. The Trump administration is making it more difficult for healthy children and healthy pregnant women to get the COVID vaccine, […]
Jun 4, 2025
How measles tore through a remote West Texas city
NBC News SEMINOLE, Texas — On a Saturday in mid-March, Dr. Ben Edwards put on his scrubs and drove to a sheet metal building in this tiny West Texas city to treat children with measles. Red spots mottled his face; Edwards was sick with measles, too. An outbreak of the disease was swelling in Gaines […]
Jun 4, 2025
Arizona: Third commercial farm tests positive for bird flu
12 News A third commercial farm in Arizona has tested positive for avian flu, according to the Arizona Department of Agriculture. A third Maricopa County commercial farm has tested positive for Avian Influenza, according to the Arizona Department of Agriculture. Poultry at the latest farm to test positive started showing signs of the bird flu […]
Jun 4, 2025
Tracking the Threat: How a New H5N1 Virus Variant Took Hold Across Europe
Global Biodefense New genomic analyses trace the origins and spread of the EA-2023-DG H5N1 reassortant, highlighting evolving zoonotic risks and urgent surveillance needs. A new scientific study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases has mapped the emergence and spread of a novel highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus genotype—EA-2023-DG—across Europe. Conducted by an international team of researchers led by the […]
Jun 4, 2025
Study: Live bird flu virus can survive in raw milk for a week
Ag Daily A new lab study has found that the H5N1 avian influenza virus can remain infectious in raw milk for more than a day at room temperature and over a week when refrigerated, raising significant concerns about the potential for zoonotic transmission through unpasteurized dairy products. Published May 28 on the preprint server medRxiv, the non-peer-reviewed […]
Jun 4, 2025
We finally may be able to rid the world of mosquitoes. But should we?
Washington Post Gene editing holds the potential of suppressing mosquito species that carry deadly diseases — and raises ethical questions. They buzz, they bite, and they cause some of the deadliest diseases known to humanity. Mosquitoes are perhaps the planet’s most universally reviled animals. If we could zap them off the face of the Earth, […]
Jun 3, 2025
Measles can be a risk during air travel. Here’s how to stay safe.
Washington Post At least 62 people with measles have traveled on planes this year, and one person became infected. But being fully vaccinated can help protect you. People with measles, a highly contagious disease, are traveling on airplanes, raising concerns about the spread of the respiratory virus as global cases rise and summer travel season gets underway […]
Jun 3, 2025